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10 August 2013

Tomorrow, at Queen of Peace Church, North Arlington, NJ. See you at 9 am.
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The
Letter the to Hebrews recalls this morning that “By faith Abraham obeyed when
he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance; he
went out, not knowing where he was to go…”

This
is a model of sorts for our own journeys of faith: we are traveling companions sent
out by God to the world. We are called,
as Pope mentioned recently, not to take our faith and keep it within ourselves
as if it were a museum piece, but rather to see what it can do! This means that faith is never simply a
personal journey but a call into relationship with other people: believers or
otherwise.

Faith
does not have much value when kept to ourselves, or only shared with those to
our left and right in church. No: the
truly extraordinary thing about Christianity
comes from the fact that we are call to share what we have been given in Christ
with others.

What’s
more, we also are taught by Scripture this morning that despite “dying in
faith,” Abraham and many of those who came after him did not receive a reward
in this life, but instead, “saw it and greeted it from afar.” This is certainly a challenging thing t ohear
because it means that: our faith is not something to hang onto, but rather
something which propels us into action, as well as even when we act as God
would have us act, this does not promise us success. In fact, if we take the Cross as the model
for our lives, we might even think that acting as God would have us act guarantees us failure in the eyes of the
world.

And
when we think of the failure of the cross or the failures in our own lives, we
keep coming back however to the theme that runs through the first two readings
we heard today: faith. This is because
that we can do nothing without it – and even if we can succeed for a time, when
the cards of the world turn against us: when we’re diagnosed with a surprise
illness, when we’re suddenly betrayed by a friend, when we are passed over for
a promotion – falling back on our own strength will not be enough.

At
some of the darkest moments of my family’s life: trouble with siblings, my
mother’s battle with cancer – the list could go on – my dad would look at me,
or if I were far away, say with conviction over the phone, “Kid, you got to
have faith.”

Yet, as is with most things, the words, “have faith” will
only go so far: because my father showed me what faith is in action, the words
of advice took true root. And so it is
with us, when we see people of faith we are encouraged by their faithful
actions; and our call is similar: to act in such a way that the faith of our
actions matches up that of our mouths.

For each of us here, there are different manners of going
about this. Last month, it seems as if
Pope Francis gave us a marvelous way of thinking about what it is we are to be
about as followers of Jesus:

This is
why we must learn to listen to our conscience more. But be careful! This does
not mean following my own ego, doing what interests me, what suits me, what I
like.... It is not this! The conscience is the interior place for listening to
the truth, to goodness, for listening to God; it is the inner place of my
relationship with him, the One who speaks to my heart and helps me to discern,
to understand the way I must take and, once the decision is made, to go
forward, to stay faithful.

And
how, how specifically do we go forward, do we stay faithful?

We
are called first and foremost into an intimate relationship with Jesus that is
marked by vigilance: that is, we must stay awake in our prayer, listening
closely to Jesus talking directly to our heart – and this only comes by taking
the time to listen to him. In our world
that may be filled with noise and concerns this is no easy task and we will not
be perfect in our attempts. But the Lord
is never quiet; as the great Augustine once said, the Word of God may not always be heard, but it is never silent. We will hear this word through spending some
time with the Bible on a regular basis, to praying for others as well as just
taking the time to consider all that God has done for us and what He is asking
us to do.

And
this Word, when we listen to it, will teach us where to go and what to do. And make no mistake about it: all of us have
a task from God, all of us have been called to do something extraordinary, if
not famous. If there is one thing to remember
this week, it is this: God has a purpose for each of us, exactly because we are
each unrepeatable gifts of God to the world.
And because of this:

All
of us bear the responsibility of attempting to reconcile our family and friends
with each other and with God.

All
of us bear the responsibility to remind other that the word Gospel means “Good
News” – and that those hearing it should learn the goodness of God.

All
of us bear the responsibility to take the gift of faith that we’ve been given
and share it with others.

If
the last line of this morning’s Gospel is right that much will be expected of
those entrusted with much and even more with those who have been given more, then
we not only face a great challenge this week, but also may take solace in those
who have been given much and done well with it: Abraham, the Father of Nations
and Jesus, the Christ Risen from the Dead.
Good company for us to emulate this week indeed.